


It Had Taken a Long Time

by ernyx



Category: Marvel, Marvel (Comics)
Genre: AU, M/M, a strange but wonderful relationship, comic personalities and backstories, not mcu
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-31
Updated: 2015-05-31
Packaged: 2018-04-02 03:01:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4043293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ernyx/pseuds/ernyx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's a tale of fast and slow. It doesn't always mix, but when it does, it's something lovely.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Coffee Kisses

**Author's Note:**

> This ship and story presented to you by my time RPing as Clint with the lovely DictionaryWrites.

    Clint had taken months to stop jumping out of his skin every time Pietro appeared in a little whirlwind. Sometimes, it was only for a moment, a quick kiss pressed against his lips before the speedster was off again.

Maybe it was because he couldn’t stay _still_.

    (Clint thought it might have been the faint blush he’d caught on Pietro’s cheeks. Who knew?)

    Nowadays, it was normal. Pietro rushed in and Clint grabbed him, hugging him tight sometimes, kissing him gently sometimes, occasionally grumbling about his papers going everywhere.

(He was working on a new type of arrow, to nobody’s surprise.)

    But at night, Pietro often stayed. Clint could feel him itching to run, to _move_ , time passing far too slowly for the mutant before exhaustion made him succumb to sleep (and then again, not for long). Clint could sense the unease, the almost-tremble of the other man’s fingertips, and yet the latter didn’t complain, didn’t say much of anything as the archer tucked himself into silvery-white hair and warmth. He was always _so_ warm.

When Pietro was around, the nightmares weren’t.

    Even in the morning, as the sun came in on a half-empty bed and sounds of Pietro rushing around filled their apartment, even as the archer dragged his feet in search of caffeine, he looked better rested, started the day with a smile.

    Nowadays, Clint would catch his arm and give Pietro a quick kiss before letting him go about his day as he pleased. In those few minutes, Pietro would think that maybe a few hours of stillness was worth it. Maybe all of it was worth his human’s unending affection in the form of coffee-flavored kisses.


	2. Just Shut Up

    Pietro had taken a long time to adjust to Clint’s tempo. His human lover didn’t walk fast enough, talk fast enough, couldn’t match him for stamina or pace. He was irritatingly _slow_ , especially when they walked arm in arm (on the occasions that he let Clint cling to him like the little limpet he was). It could have been the ultimate exercise in frustration.

    He couldn’t understand, for the life of him, why it was sometimes so endearing.

    As far as Clint went, it had been difficult at first. Already trapped in the identity of being no more than human on a superhuman team, a relationship with someone who was a mutant was very nearly the ultimate blow. It was a constant reminder of what he couldn’t do.

    But where Clint sat and worked in their apartment, Pietro rebuilt the world around him. He fixed up the housing, he made all of Clint’s favorite foods, and unbelievably, he very nearly kept Stark’s ego in check (and presumably helped make sure that the billionaire didn’t blow up the world).

Clint found that he had gotten very attached to it.

    Their days were different, but the nights were the much the same, with food and occasional visitors and cuddling that Pietro grumbled about until Clint combed his fingers through the mutant’s silky hair and found all the right spots to massage.

(Pietro must have gotten attached to that life too, because he wasn’t going anywhere.)

    Their schedule only varied for missions. After a particularly arduous battle, Clint collapsed into Pietro’s arms. The mutant would heal faster, he knew, and wasn’t hurt quite as badly. As usual, he tried to deflect as much of the fussing as possible, and when Pietro refused to shut up (or try to bandage Clint’s bruised and bleeding body from head to toe), the archer reached up and kissed him soundly.

    “ _Kocham cię_ ,” he murmured for the first time, and the awed smile on his lover’s face made all the pain worth it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Kocham cię" is "I love you" in Polish.


End file.
